Heuberger, Richard (Franz Joseph)

Heuberger, Richard (Franz Joseph), Austrian conductor, music critic, and composer; b. Graz, June 18, 1850; d. Vienna, Oct. 27, 1914. He received musical training from W. Mayer in Graz. He settled in Vienna, where he became conductor of the Singakademie in 1878. He was music critic of the Wiener Tageblatt (1881–96), the Neue Freie Presse (1896–1901), andthe Neue Musikalische Presse (1904–14). In 1902 he became a prof, at the Cons. As a composer, Heuberger scored his greatest success with the operetta Der Opernball (Vienna, Jan. 5, 1898).

Writings

Im Foyer: Gesammelte Essays über das Opernrepertoire der Gegenwart (Lepizig, 1901); Musikalische Skizzen (Leipzig, 1901); Franz Schubert (Berlin, 1902; 3rd ed., rev., 1920, by H. von der Pfordten); Anleitung zum Modulieren (Vienna, 1910).

Works

dramatic: (all 1st perf. in Vienna unless otherwise given): Opera: Abenteuer einer Neujahrsnacht (Leipzig, 1886); Manuel Venegas (Leipzig, March 27, 1889; rev. as Mirjam, oder Das Maifest, Jan. 20, 1894); Barfüssele (Dresden, 1905). o p e r e t t a:Der Opernball (Jan. 5, 1898); Ihre Excellenz (Jan. 28, 1899; rev. as Eine entzückende Frau); Der Sechsuhrzug (Berlin, Jan. 17, 1900); Das Baby (Oct. 3, 1902); Der Fürst von Düsterstein (March 3, 1909); Don Quixote (Dec. I, 1910). Ballet: Struwwelpeter (Dresden, 1897). OTHER: Choral music and songs.

Bibliography

H. Hughes, R. H.’s Erinnerungen an Johannes Brahms: The Life, Work, and Times of Johannes Brahms as Revealed by a Contemporary (diss., Ball State Univ., 1987).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire